For example, there is a case where degrees of awakening of a driver of a vehicle such as an automobile are reduced by continuing driving or the like. Therefore, it is necessary to detect a reduction in degrees of awakening of a driver, that is, a drowsy driving state, and to give a warning to the driver. Thus, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2001-137194, for example, discloses a dozing detection device which can detect the dozing state of a driver with a simple method nearer to nature.
The dozing detection device includes temperature detecting means for detecting the skin temperature of a driver and dozing state determination means for determining whether the driver is in a dozing state or not by comparing the detected skin temperature and a threshold value. Therefore, it is possible to detect dozing without attaching an attachment to a driver and giving sense of discomfort to the driver.